B.C. court greenlights 1 of 3 class actions against Google for non-consensual data collection

A Supreme Court of British Columbia judge has temporarily stayed two separate class-action lawsuits against Alphabet Inc.’s Google, pending a final determination on the class-action certification of a third lawsuit aiming to represent users of all devices (including Android and Apple Inc.’s iOS smartphones) and on behalf of all users located in Canada, excluding Ontario and Quebec residents. Tuesday, the Supreme Court of British Columbia released a decision addressing two applications regarding three similar actions against Google for alleged privacy breaches through data collection without consent. In the court system, if several class actions overlap, generally one action proceeds while the others are stayed, in what is known as a carriage motion. On. Aug. 17, 2020, Harondel Sibble (the lead plaintiff in the proceeding known as the Sibble Action, and the class-action that will move forward) filed a lawsuit against Alphabet Inc., Google LLC, and Google Canada Corporation, describing Google’s primary business as the sale and placement of targeted advertising, and alleging the targeting is made possible by Google’s collection, retention, aggregation, and use of personal information without consent. “Sibble counsel describe their claim as designed to grapple with a wrongful business model,” the Friday court document states. Sibble’s claim period ranges from Nov. 1, 2008 through to the date of judgment. Sibble asserted that Google collects information when people use Google Services, such as its Google Chrome search engine, and when they access a third-party website that also uses Google Services, such as Microsoft Corp.’s Bing which uses Google Analytics or Google Ads. For the purposes of the case, Sibble defined Google Services to include Android, Chrome, its search engine, Google Maps, Gmail, and “other services,” while the information collected includes IP addresses, physical addresses, location, search terms, and web browsing history, among others. Sibble is advancing eight claims with the court, for which punitive and exemplary damages are sought: trespass (intrusion onto devices); conversion (monetization of personal information); invasion of privacy; violations of the privacy acts of British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Newfoundland; intrusion upon seclusion; unjust enrichment; violations of the consumer protection acts of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island; and breach of the federal Competition Act. Sibble’s case excludes Ontario and Quebec which have their own companion actions being pursued (Lindsay Provost v. Google in Ontario and Option consommateurs v. Google in Quebec), Justice Sheila Tucker noted. Most recently in the two companion cases, the Quebec Superior Court rejected an application by Google to dismiss the proceedings of the proposed class-action lawsuit which, similar to Sibble, alleges that the company “is collecting personal information on individuals who use Google websites and third-party websites which integrate its tools” without obtaining sufficient consent. In British Columbia on July 27, 2020, before Sibble filed his action, Brian Reid filed a similar action but only named Google LLC as the defendant. “The Reid claim centres on information collected while a person is browsing using the Incognito (private) browsing mode. Reid alleges that Google represents that Incognito provides privacy protection, but then nonetheless collects the personal information of persons browsing in Incognito,” according to the court documents. His claim period is the same as Sibble’s but the class is limited to users who browse in Incognito while not logged into a Google account. On Aug. 15, 2018, two years before both Sibble and Reid, Ryan Kett also filed an action against Google LLC, alleging that “that for an unknown period before Jan. 1, 2019, Google collected location-based personal information without consent from individuals with a Google account whenever Google services were used on Android or Apple iOS smartphone devices,” according to the court document. The Kett class includes persons who deactivated or disabled their location services or location history function. Kett also alleged that Google allowed users to turn off their location but nonetheless collected their location history under a default setting in “Web & App Activity,” which could also be turned off but that was not apparent to users. Google submitted that Reid and Sibble are duplicative and that one or the other must be stayed to avoid abuse of process. Tucker ultimately sided with Sibble, saying that its broader scope and case theory better serve the interests of the putative class, the common interests of the class members, and the court in the efficient use of time and resources. Meanwhile, Google’s stay application for the Kett case was approved, with Tucker deciding that Sibble was also the most appropriate to proceed out of the two parallel applications. – Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca.

B.C. court greenlights 1 of 3 class actions against Google for non-consensual data collection

Broadcast | February 4, 2022

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B.C. court greenlights 1 of 3 class actions against Google for non-consensual data collection

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